Книга - For Her Son’s Sake

For Her Son's Sake
Katherine Garbera


USA TODAY bestselling author Katherine Garbera proves that revenge is sweet, but family is sweeter…Gaming tycoon Kell Montrose should be excited about buying out the company of his family's bitterest rivals and giving its CEO, Emma Chandler, the ax. But there's something about the single mom that reveals a soft spot Kell never knew he had…and a passion he can't deny.Emma won't set a bad example for her young son and lose the family legacy. She certainly didn't get to the top by bowing to bullies like Kell. But the bigger question is: Why can't she fight the urge to bed him?









The elevator jolted back into motion, tossing Emma off balance.


Kell grabbed her and steadied her.

A spark arced between them. He wanted to deny it, but there it was in spades as he touched her. Her scent was sweet and flowery, not at all like what he’d expected.

Enemy, he thought, but it was too late. He wanted to kiss her. Had wanted to since the moment he’d started staring at her lips.

Playing fast and loose with her emotions and her future didn’t seem like a very sound business idea, but it was just one kiss. Surely, he could have that. A prize he’d earned by working hard to overcome his enemy.

He lowered his head slowly toward hers, waiting to see what she’d do.

* * *

For Her Son’s Sake is part of the Baby Business trilogy: One hostile takeover, two feuding families, three special babies




For Her Son’s Sake

Katherine Garbera





www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


KATHERINE GARBERA is a USA TODAY bestselling author of more than fifty books and has always believed in happy endings. She lives in England with her husband, children and their pampered pet, Godiva. Visit Katherine on the web at www.katherinegarbera.com (http://www.katherinegarbera.com), or catch up with her on Facebook and Twitter.


This book is dedicated to my parents.

I always assume that everyone has a great mom and dad

like I do and am surprised when I realize how special

my parents are. I love you, Mom and Dad.


Contents

Cover (#uc8ac71ae-82bd-5548-8150-161b2482128e)

Excerpt (#u5da84e10-e005-5e47-894c-eafc85069aa8)

Title Page (#u503f9796-f864-5bde-a8a5-363e6423ca24)

About the Author (#ude1ba487-9a93-5154-9d61-080244c4b7d3)

Dedication (#u9081612e-fe1f-57a3-b595-6da19ba1b4a4)

One (#u144cf27a-9d82-505c-a208-32b1920cda33)

Two (#u003c973e-bc8d-52c3-ba69-950428080b4d)

Three (#ueb3c60fe-a265-5d7d-8deb-8a3057bb44f5)

Four (#u1eeed5cf-eb1d-5887-bbe1-236d5a830ba5)

Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)


One (#ulink_de83d416-8478-546f-833b-8c7949aca226)

Emma Chandler forced a smile as she packed up her Louis Vuitton Neverfull bag and walked out of the boardroom with her head held high. It was bad enough to be in the lair of her longtime family rival Kell Montrose. That was stressful on its own. But to see her younger sisters paired up and happily in love with Kell’s cousins, Dec and Allan, who were also Montrose heirs, was another stab to the heart.

A wave of loneliness washed over her. She should give up trying to keep herself on the board at Playtone-Infinity Games and let Kell win. Except that wasn’t her style. But no matter how hard she tried to fight it, it looked as if she was on the way out of the company that she’d poured her life into for the last four years.

The hostile takeover had been a surprise, but to be honest, she’d known for a long time that Kell Montrose intended to find a way to make Infinity Games his own and then tear it apart. It didn’t matter that her grandfather—the man Kell had hated—was dead and buried or that the company had floundered a little under her guidance. She’d hoped somehow to find a heart and soul under Kell’s solemn exterior. Someone she could negotiate with.

Instead she’d found a man bent on revenge, and her two sisters despite their best intentions, had fallen in love with the enemy. They had also proven themselves indispensable and secured their positions at the newly merged company. They were all finding their own place except her. She, of course, had the same chance to prove herself but she knew she was the one Chandler that Kell hated the most.

The one who’d witnessed his humiliation at the hands of her grandfather. The one Kell wasn’t going to keep around any longer than he had to. The one who had exactly forty-eight hours to come up with a kickass idea or she wouldn’t blame him for showing her the door. She thought she might have one but wasn’t sure he’d give her a fair shake.

When the elevator opened, she got on and reached for the Close button. She wanted to be alone. But just as the doors started to slide shut a big masculine hand wrapped around the edge and kept them open.

She groaned inwardly as Kell stepped over the threshold and into the elevator. She hoped her forced smile would stay in place. After all, how long could it take to reach the lobby? Five minutes?

“Feeling like the Lone Ranger?” he asked.

His eyes were a silvery-pewter color that always fascinated her. They were gorgeous, she thought, but icy and intense as well.

“Not at all. Why would I?” she asked. She’d always been able to play it cool and intended to do that now.

“Your sisters have come over to the dark side. I’m going to finish bringing the last vestiges of Infinity Games under the Playtone umbrella soon.”

He deserved his moment to crow, but that didn’t mean she had to stand here and listen to it. She reached for the buttons again to open the doors and get off but it was too late. The elevator started moving.

“You okay?” he asked.

His face was angular, all strong jawbone and a very stubborn chin. His hair was thick and a warm, dark brown color that was almost chestnut. He wore it longer on the top and parted on the side. It was thick and curly and she almost wanted to touch those carelessly styled curls of his.

She looked up into his silvery eyes and saw a hint of humanity there. “I’m fine. I just don’t like elevators. I should have taken the stairs.”

“And then you could have avoided me.”

“That would be a plus. I get that you hold all the cards but don’t write me off yet.”

“Was that what I was doing?” he asked.

He had a deep voice that she had to admit she’d always enjoyed listening to. She was a total idiot, she thought. It had been almost four years since her husband, Helio’s, death and since then she hadn’t been attracted to a single man. Now she was standing in an elevator way too close to one and felt a tingle of anticipation.

What the hell was wrong with her? Was this just her way of making sure she was miserable for the rest of her natural life?

“Emma?”

She realized Kell was waiting for an answer and she looked up at him and let her guard slip for just a second. “You were being an ass.”

He laughed. “There’s the fire I remember from the old days when we were interns together at Infinity Games. Where you were always struggling to be the best. What happened to that?”

When they were younger, her grandfather had been persuaded by the human resources department to give Kell one of the internships after his family had threatened to sue if he wasn’t accepted.

“Nothing.” She wasn’t about to admit to a single real emotion to this man. Besides, he’d have to be an idiot not to know that losing her husband when she was pregnant hit her like a ton of bricks and then pouring her heart into this company and having him snatch it out of her hands wasn’t helping.

“Nothing?”

One second away from letting him have it, she turned on him. Then she wondered why was she holding it in. It was safe to say that at this moment she had nothing left to lose. She knew it, and from the smug look on Kell’s face, he knew it too.

“You really want to know what’s bothering me?” she asked, taking a step forward, causing him to step back.

“I’m tired of jumping through hoops and coming up with my best ideas and then having to run down here and get them approved by you and the assembled board. I know whatever I say, it’s never going to be good enough in your eyes to make up for the way you were treated by my grandfather. And I also am very aware of the fact that if I can’t make this work I have no other options. All of my job experience is with a company I let get taken over.”

He just stood there, his silvery eyes narrowed and his arms crossed over his chest. She knew he didn’t like being called on the fact that he’d pushed her into a corner or that no matter what, he wasn’t going to let her keep her job.

“What, no more comments? No more gloating?”

The elevator halted with a jerk and she reached out to brace herself again. “Better get that looked at, Montrose. I’d hate to see your empire crumble from the inside.”

He stood up and pressed the button but nothing happened. They were trapped in the elevator. He hit the buttons for all the floors and then turned back to her. “Looks like we’re stuck.”

“Great.”

She could think of other words to say but her son, Sammy, was getting to the age where he’d repeat words, so lately she’d been trying to keep it clean. But really, could this day get any worse?

At least she was alive. At least she had a roof over her head. Ugh. She didn’t want her mom’s voice in her head. Not now. But now that it had started she was inundated with all the things she should be thankful for. Her mom had always made her list them if she complained about something.

She groaned again.

“Are you hurt? You keep making little noises,” Kell said.

He looked a bit unnerved by the thought that she might be hurt. “I’m fine. I just had my mom’s voice in my head.”

His brow furrowed as he looked over at her.

“You know how moms are with advice and stuff. My mom’s pet peeve with me was whining, so whenever I’d complain about something, she’d have me write out a gratitude list. And just now, I was thinking what a crap day this was and then I started making the list. It’s a sickness, really. Was your mom like that?”

“No.”

“Figures. Did she just bake cookies and spoil you? I told my mom there were ones out there who did that.”

“No. Kristi Keller Montrose never did any of that. She left me with my grandfather when I was three and never looked back.”

Emma stared at him for a really long time. It explained so much about Kell and made her see him as a little bit more human than she wanted to. She liked him as her enemy, pictured him as the dark, evil knight from Sammy’s favorite bedtime story, but she’d just seen the first chink in the armor. Kell had clearly been the best of their group of interns and everyone had expected Gregory Chandler to offer him the managerial role in the company. But her granddad had called Kell into his office, kept him waiting and then told him that he’d never have a job at Infinity Games. No matter how many times he threatened to sue.

No, that wasn’t true, she’d seen the chink a long time ago in her grandfather’s office. “I’m sorry, Kell.” She was sad for the boy he’d been and for the man he’d become.

“You can’t miss what you never had,” he admitted, as he pressed the emergency button. They were still trapped in the elevator.

* * *

Of all the things that Kell wanted to discuss with Emma, his parents weren’t one of them. They’d been working together for the last six months and he had to admit, she’d been an asset to merging his company with hers. But now it was time for her to either transition into another role or leave, which was pretty much what he’d said just now at the board meeting in front of his cousins and her sisters. Everyone had looked at him as if he was the bad guy, but that was reality.

After Emma had abruptly left the meeting, they’d all been staring at him with accusation in their eyes, and he’d finally decided to just go after her. But it wouldn’t change anything. And now they were trapped in the elevator, just as if they were trapped in the old feud between their families.

It had been six months since he’d initialized the hostile takeover of her family’s company Infinity Games. It was now January in Southern California where they lived, and that meant chilly weather, but no snow. And he was more than happy to concede that he was very chilly toward Emma and all the Chandlers. He could even acknowledge it was a coping mechanism.

Since then, his cousins had weakened and fallen in love with the other two Chandler sisters. But Kell hadn’t forgotten the way they’d struggled growing up under the bitter tutelage of their grandfather, Thomas Montrose. There had been only one thing that Grandfather Thomas had wanted and that was to see all Chandlers suffer as he had when he’d been cut out of the profits and left to see someone else developing his dreams. And the message had sunk in with Kell, the eldest grandson, who’d spent the most time with the old man. Kell’s dad had been a navy SEAL killed in action and his mom had lit out for greener pastures.

“So...” Emma said after the silence stretched on, their call for help unanswered. “I guess one role you might need to fill is building maintenance.”

He chuckled. “That would be a waste of your skills.”

“It would, but I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t be stuck in here now if I was in charge of it.”

“Have you thought of anything else you can do in Playtone-Infinity Games?” he asked.

She rubbed the back of her neck and glanced over at him. He’d always thought her eyes were pretty. The color of the California sky on a late autumn day when it was clear and so blue it almost hurt to look at it.

Her long reddish-brown hair was pulled back in a chignon but a tendril had escaped to curl around her ear. He didn’t want to notice it, but he did. He also couldn’t tear his eyes from her lips. She had a kissable mouth, he noticed. Her lower lip was full and just looking at it whetted his appetite.

She wore a black Chanel dress with a gold accent at the neck that made hers seem long and slender. He recognized the designer because his last girlfriend had worked for Neiman Marcus and had paraded haute couture in front of him all the time.

“The only viable idea I have for a new role is to make the company’s charitable arm more of a foundation. There are a few things I’ve been wanting to implement but there was never time in my schedule.”

“Like what?” he asked. Creating a foundation would be great for the tax write-off. They were about to see some huge gains in profit from the merged company and he didn’t want it all to go to taxes.

“Shouldn’t I save this for the meeting in forty-eight hours that decides my fate?”

“Just run it past me,” he said.

“I’ve been working on a prototype game at home for my tablet that would help kids with reading. I know there are other reading apps and software out there but they don’t work with Sammy. So I started focusing on what he likes and working to his skills.”

“That’s a lot of customization,” he said, but already he saw the potential in the idea. If they distributed a learning game through a foundation they could get their software into the hands of kids as they were just starting to play. So that once they were older they’d gravitate toward the Playtone-Infinity family of console and handheld games.

“Yes, but I’ve been talking to some of the teachers at the nursery school and they said most kids fall into four or five categories for learning so we’d create different versions based on those categories and then roll it out in test groups. What do you think?”

“I like it. I like it a lot. But you’re going to need more than just one game to keep your job.”

“I realize that,” she said. “I’ve been jotting down some notes on what the charitable trust could look like and working on the job description for the chairman role.”

“Fair enough. After your initial meeting with the board in forty-eight hours, why don’t we have a meeting next week in your office. You can show me your prototype and your ideas for the structure of the foundation. If it’s viable we’ll discuss a way to make it work.”

“Really?” she asked. It was almost too good to be true.

“I just said so,” he said sarcastically.

“But I thought you were going to take out your revenge on the Chandlers by firing me,” she said.

“Well, if you keep talking about it then I will just fire you outright. But we’re family now. You and I share a nephew and an adopted niece. I’ve always been focused on revenge, but now that I have what I want, maybe I need to look at the future a little differently.”

Her youngest sister, Cari, had a child with Kell’s cousin Dec. They were engaged to be married, which meant one day soon Emma and Kell would be related. Also, her middle sister, Jessi, and Kell’s other cousin, Allan, were engaged and were guardians to their late friends’ baby, Hannah.

“I’m not sure I can trust you now,” she said.

“Given our family history I’d feel the exact same way. But I would have to be a total bastard to say yes to your idea and make you work hard to save your job, then not let you keep it.”

“It’d be the perfect revenge,” she said. “Listen, I don’t want to deny that you are entitled to your position. I will work hard, but only if you are going to give me a fair chance at actually keeping my job.”

“It’s going to be extremely difficult to change my mind about firing you, but not impossible.”

She tipped her head to the side and walked forward, putting both of her palms on his chest and leaned toward him. “That sounds like a challenge, Kell Montrose, and I am more than willing to accept it.

“We can both agree that you’ve made no promises and that I will have to work twice as hard to get your acceptance, but when I do, and I can guarantee that I will, you will have to keep me on not because I’m a Chandler but because you are a man of your word and we made a bargain.”

Dammit it to hell and back. She was right. He was a man of his word, and now he’d have to stand behind the commitment he’d just made.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked. “There’d be no shame in walking away from Playtone-Infinity Games. I’m prepared to offer you a very generous severance package that will make you a rich woman. You’d never have to work another day in your life after this.”

Her gaze met his and he saw the steely determination in her eyes. “I can’t. I have a son, and Playtone-Infinity is his heritage too. What kind of example would I be setting if I just walked away.”

Kell had to admit, he respected her for that. She was his enemy—that hadn’t changed—but there was something about her attitude that made him want her to stay.

And to be perfectly honest it would be the coup de grace in his war against her grandfather, Gregory Chandler. True the old man was dead, but Kell couldn’t help but think of how much it would piss him off to see his granddaughter bargaining with a Montrose to keep not only her job but also her pride.

The elevator jolted back into motion, tossing Emma off balance. She let her leather bag slip to the floor as she threw out her arm to try to catch herself. Kell grabbed her and steadied her.

A spark arced between them. He wanted to deny it, but there it was in spades. There was no more than a few inches of space between them. Her scent was sweet and flowery, not at all like what he’d expected.

She’s the enemy, he thought, but it was too late. He wanted to kiss her. Had wanted to since the moment he’d started staring at her lips.

Playing fast and loose with her emotions and her future didn’t seem like a very sound business idea, but it was just one kiss. Surely, he could have that. It was a prize he’d earned by defeating the Chandlers.

He lowered his head slowly toward hers, waiting to see what she’d do. She didn’t pull back; instead, she tilted her head a little bit to the side and leaned forward in anticipation. He brushed his lips slowly over hers. They were soft. Softer than he expected. He kept the embrace gentle as he searched for some answers to the attraction he felt toward his sworn enemy.


Two (#ulink_bb374ba3-d0a3-5167-8357-7e7c4cd4c696)

Kell didn’t taste like the enemy. In fact, his kiss was exactly right, subtle and understated. He didn’t take, but instead made her feel treasured as his mouth moved over hers and his hands held her steady.

She had the feeling he was as surprised by the embrace as she was, and she stopped thinking as he opened his mouth and his hot breath entered her, followed by his tongue.

She clung to his shoulders as their kiss deepened. Assertive now, he pushed her back against the wall of the elevator. His body crowded hers and she felt trapped by his presence and her own desire. His hand came up to the side of her face, the long fingers and big palm holding her as his mouth plundered hers. She shifted around in his arms. Slid her hands into his thick hair. It was just as a soft as she’d expected it to be. Ridiculously sensuous against her touch.

He caressed his way down the sides of her torso, fingers finally coming to rest and tightening on her waist, and then he lifted his head.

She opened her eyes and for the first time saw confusion and a hint of real emotion in that pewter gray gaze of his. She grabbed his tie and pulled him back, leaning up on tiptoe and taking the kiss she wanted. One that had been overdue for a long time.

He groaned as his hand tightened on her waist and he slipped his touch lower down her hips and leaned more fully into her. She felt his erection and wanted more but then the elevator pinged and the door opened. Reluctantly, she let go of his tie.

She retrieved her bag from the floor and stepped out into the carpeted hallway before realizing they weren’t in the lobby. Damn. She couldn’t get back into the elevator with him. Not now. She felt wild and out of control. And as she glanced over her shoulder she noticed he’d followed her out of the elevator.

She groaned.

“Making a list of things to be thankful for?” he asked.

She shook her head. Words were beyond her right now. “Where are the stairs?”

She couldn’t pretend that embrace had been nothing more than curiosity. If she could...if she could, it would be perfect. But it was more than that. More than momentary lust that they’d now gotten out of their systems.

What she needed was to go back home, get back in bed and pretend this day had never happened.

“This way,” he said, leading her down the hallway to one of the emergency staircases. He held open the door for her.

“You don’t have to follow me down,” she said.

“Hell, yes, I do. We have something to discuss,” he said.

“We’re having a meeting in less than forty-eight hours. We can talk then,” she said.

“Really? You want to talk about how one kiss made me hotter than a horny teenager in front of our family and the board?”

She stopped and pivoted on her heel to face him. “We’re not going to ever discuss that.”

“Into denial now?” he asked. “I shouldn’t really be surprised. That’s how you lost Infinity Games.”

She dropped her bag and aggressively moved back up the two stairs toward him but he simply held his ground, not at all intimidated by her anger. But she wasn’t daunted either.

“You’re right. I did deny we were in trouble but that was business. You are dabbling in my personal life at a time when everything is collapsing and I have no fallback point. I can’t turn to my job if I take a risk on an ill-advised passionate encounter with you. And there’s more than me at stake here. I have a son and I can’t be a complete mess.... So believe me when I say we are not talking about that and I’m going to do my damnedest to pretend it never happened.”

He tilted his head to the side and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not like that. I don’t forget anything.”

“Well this time you’re going to. Because we both know that you might give me a chance to win a role at our merged companies but privately you’d never give me anything but heartbreak. I’d have to be a complete masochist to believe anything else.”

She wasn’t playing around anymore. Earlier she’d realized she’d reached rock bottom, and the fact that she’d just had the most intense intimate experience in recent memory with this man made no sense to her.

“Fine. I don’t think an affair is a wise idea either. For the record I’m not some kind of monster, Emma. I don’t get off on hurting women.”

She realized that her words had cut him and that hadn’t been her intent. She shook her head. “I never thought that. I just know where you and I are concerned there is too much baggage. We’re the oldest children in our families. The ones who are determined to carry on our families’ complex legacy, and that makes us the worst two people in the world to ever get involved.”

“I agree,” he said.

“It was probably a fluke,” she said. “Just the tension of the moment. I know I wanted to get the better of you at something.”

He gave her a wry grin. “You haven’t had the best of me.”

“Haven’t I?” she asked. Then smacked herself in the forehead. “I’m not flirting with you.”

“I’d apologize but I’m not sorry. This doesn’t have to be any more complicated then we make it.”

“I agree since we’re not kissing or touching again. Right?”

He put his hands up. “You fell into my arms.”

“You kissed me,” she said, pointing her finger at him.

“I did, but you looked up at me with your lips parted...what was I supposed to do?”

* * *

Kell prided himself on always being in control, and the fact that Emma had shaken him made him want to investigate this further. He didn’t want to ignore it or let it go. He needed to explore why he was weak where she was concerned and then ensure it never happened again.

Seeing the way she was running from him made him reconsider. She had a point. He would never let himself love any woman especially not Emma. He knew that his heart was still too full of hate. He’d never really learned how to care for a woman. It didn’t matter that he really didn’t know her as a person, that her last name had formed his opinion of her long ago.

But his racing pulse and lingering hard-on were sending a different message. He didn’t want to let her go. That’s why he was standing in the stairwell debating something that he knew he should drop. It made no sense that just as he was finally reaching his life’s goal, he’d find time to pursue this. To pursue her. Her?

Was he really doing this?

“I don’t know. I have no idea what that was about. I haven’t been attracted to anyone since Helio.”

With those few words she made Kell feel something for her. She was young, widowed and he’d recently outmaneuvered her in the corporate world. He understood that a gentleman would back away. There was no sense in chasing her.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I honestly thought I’d never feel anything for a man again.”

“Silver lining?” he asked, sardonically.

“In a way. I’m sorry I enticed you to kiss me,” she said. “I had been a little curious about you since we were interns together.”

He arched one eyebrow at her. He liked Emma when she forgot to be all buttoned up and cool. He had a feeling she wasn’t going to ever be this honest with him again because it left her vulnerable. But he definitely liked seeing her this way.

“Me too. But your grandfather was always watching us back then,” Kell said.

“Yes, he was. I wanted to make a good impression and you were always Johnny-on-the-spot with everything. You were a very hard act to follow.”

He felt a flush of pride at what she said. When he’d been an intern he’d still had a few dreams that the world wasn’t the bitter place his grandfather had always made it seem. Of course after his experience with Gregory Chandler his entire perspective had changed. It was odd to think of those days now. Kell had been a completely different man.

“What can I say? I like to be the best at everything.”

“You certainly are good at kissing,” she said, and then flushed and groaned. “I’m going home now. Don’t follow me.”

He nodded. She was cute when she was flustered. Why was he just now seeing this? Probably because he’d taken over her company, his lethal focus on revenge had shifted somewhat.

“I won’t. I’ll see you at the meeting in two days,” he said, pushing his hands into his pockets. He had another meeting of his own in twenty minutes; he needed to start thinking about that instead of how good she’d felt in his arms and the fact that he could still taste her on his lips.

“Thank you,” she said, turning to walk down the stairs. Seeing the sway of her hips and the way the black Chanel dress clung to them made his breath catch.

“Emma?”

She paused but didn’t turn, just glanced over her shoulder at him. “Yes?”

“I...I don’t know if I’ll be able to resist you if you fall into my arms again.”

There. He’d said it. He felt better for having warned her. “I’m not saying that I want anything to develop between us. But I’m attracted to you and given how much time we spend together I wanted to be honest. If that happens again I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop.”

She gave him a smile that was at once the sweetest expression and the saddest. He’d have to analyze it later because right now he knew he was missing something really important in it.

“Fair enough,” she said.

“But then we both know that life isn’t fair, don’t we?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said in the quietest of voices.

He realized that she’d been hurt more than he wanted to acknowledge. Part of it no doubt had come from him and his hostile takeover but more of it had come from the personal tragedies in her life. And where she was right now.

He wanted to apologize but he wasn’t truly sorry for anything. If that elevator door hadn’t opened, who knew how much further the embrace would have gone. He hadn’t wanted it to end when it had. He was still on fire for her. But earlier she’d pointed out that he was a man of his word in business and he knew he was going to have to be the same when it came to this area too. He wasn’t going to be able to just go after her like any other woman he was attracted to.

It wasn’t fair to her or to him. And despite what the world had taught him, he was beginning to want life to be fair for her. She deserved it.

“See you at the board meeting,” he said, turning and going back up the stairs to the executive floor. When he got there, he walked through the massive reception area. Everywhere around him were the fruits of his labor. The signs of the success that he’d made from the broken dreams of his grandfather.

Usually this walk made him proud but today it felt a little hollow. When he entered the executive corridor and saw his cousins standing around talking and smiling, he felt left out again. And realized revenge hadn’t brought him what he’d thought it would.

* * *

Emma drove back to Infinity Games’ old headquarters, which now served as the satellite location for the merged company. Even in the middle of the day, the drive from downtown Los Angeles to Malibu wasn’t great. The traffic in this part of the world was ridiculous. By the time she got back, she was ready to call it quits but when she headed up to her office, she found her sisters waiting for her.

Clearly they were here on a mission. She suspected they wanted to help her, and that was touching but also annoying. She was the eldest. The one they turned to for advice and support. She didn’t like seeing them both sitting there looking at her as if she was the fragile one.

“How did we beat you back here?” Cari asked. “You left twenty minutes before we did.”

“Kell and I got stuck in the elevator together. At least I had a chance to talk to him about a new idea,” she said. Then he’d kissed her and made her forget her name.

“Good,” Jessi said. “He can be a dic—dictator but I think he’s fair.”

Fair. If she heard that word again today she was going to pick up the crystal paperweight her grandfather had given her on her twenty-fifth birthday and heave it at the wall.

“Nice,” Cari said. “You usually call him other things.”

“Yeah, I know, Jessie said. “But ever since Allan and I got together he said I couldn’t call Kell Darth-Sucks-A-Lot anymore.”

“Probably a good idea,” Emma said. “Don’t you two have work to do?”

“Why, yes, we do. Are you trying to get rid of us?” Jessi asked.

“Why, yes, I am. I need a few minutes to myself.”

Cari came over and patted her on the back. “We’re not leaving you alone until we’re sure you’re okay. You know you’d do the same if it were either of us in your position.”

“But that’s because I’m the oldest and I know best,” Emma said.

“You don’t. You just know three more years’ worth of stuff than we do,” Jessi said.

Emma had to laugh. She looked at her sisters and acknowledged how happy she was that they were both moving on with their lives. She was glad that the mess that she’d made of Infinity Games hadn’t taken them down with it.

“That’s so true. But I’m okay. I don’t need to discuss any of this today,” she said.

“Why not? I freaked out when Dec came back into my life,” Cari said. “And I tried to deal with it on my own, but I finally realized I needed you and Jessi to help me out. We’re stronger together, Em. We always have been.”

She wanted to lean on her sisters but she had no idea what she would say to them. She had to find a way to keep her job, stay away from Kell and never again kiss him. It was complicated.

She walked passed Cari and Jessi and put her handbag in the bottom drawer of her desk before sitting down and facing them. On her desk was a picture of Sammy smiling up at her with his little toddler face. He was so sweet and precious to her. She couldn’t afford to be anything other than successful in her bid to create a new role for herself at Playtone-Infinity Games.

“You don’t have to worry about me,” she said. “I’ve got a solid idea.”

“What is it?”

“Taking our charity arm and turning it into a foundation with a full-time chairman.”

“Great idea,” Jessi said. “So that’s a job for you but what will the foundation do?”

“I’ve been playing around with a prototype reading app with Sammy,” Emma said. “It’s tailored to his way of learning. I gave Kell a top-line view of what I’m thinking and he said it was worth pursuing.”

“I think it is, too,” Cari said. “Who’s doing the coding?”

Emma had studied computer programming in college so she had a rudimentary knowledge of how to code. “I have. But it’s very basic. I wanted to play with it myself and see if it would fly before I put our staff to work on it.”

“I’ve got two guys coming off a project this week. I could allocate them to you,” Cari said. As head of development it was her job to keep all their staff working.

“I don’t have a budget yet. I need to put something together for the next board meeting and once I get approved I would love to have your staffing help.”

“I’ll get Allan to help you with the budget,” Jessi said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am. If he says no, he’ll answer to me,” Jessi said.

Emma felt surrounded by the love of her sisters and realized that even though she’d felt alone and isolated earlier, they were here for her. They had her back and always would.

“Thank you,” she said. “I’m a little too used to handling everything on my own.”

“We know. It’s your own fault because you made it too easy for us to just do our own thing and not really have to help you out. But this merger has been tough on all of us,” Cari said.

“And if we’ve learned anything, it’s that we need each other,” Jessi added. “We got your back, big sis.”

When her sisters left her office, Emma pretended that the only real concern she had was her upcoming presentation to the board. But she was lying to herself. And she knew it. She couldn’t stop thinking about Kell and how his hands had felt on her body. The ache deep inside of her reminded her that she wasn’t going to be able to forget that for a long time.


Three (#ulink_195cdd95-2341-5cdf-bc93-a2faebf1c922)

Sammy sat off to one side of the other kids and looked down at the tablet in his hands at the childcare center on the Infinity Games campus in Malibu. It worried Emma. He wasn’t antisocial, but he only engaged when he wanted to. She’d considered lecturing him on it or trying to correct his behavior but Helio’s mother said he used to do the same thing when he was growing up.

There were times when Emma missed Helio so much. They’d had a whirlwind courtship and a glamorous marriage in Dubai before he’d started the Formula 1 racing season. Then he had the accident that ended his life, and it was all over. So they hadn’t really ever lived together. It was moments like this when she saw him so clearly in her son that she felt the emptiness.

“Your secretary said I could find you here,” Kell said, coming up next to her.

“Why are you looking for me?” she asked, blinking to clear away any lingering emotion from her eyes before turning to look at her nemesis. He hadn’t lost all his hair overnight as she’d hoped. Or developed a big potbelly. Instead he was just as handsome as he’d been yesterday in the elevator. And if the way her pulse quickened was any indication, she still wanted him.

“Allan came by this morning with some financials on your new idea and I thought it might be a good time to discuss it,” Kell said.

“Why did Allan bring my numbers to you? I was planning to present them tomorrow.” She’d been working almost nonstop on the business plan for the foundation. Now that she didn’t have to concentrate on keeping Infinity Games in the black she felt sort of free. And the foundation had been a dream of hers for a long time, one she’d never been able to talk her grandfather into pursuing.

“They’re better than you expected. Allan and Dec have recommended we skip tomorrow’s meeting and let you get on with the project,” Kell said. “If we can go back to your office, I have some new targets I’d like to discuss with you.”

That was good news. She glanced back into the nursery and noted that Sammy was watching her where she stood in the doorway. She smiled over at him and he put down the tablet and got to his feet in that awkward toddler way of his.

“I can’t go back just yet,” she said. “Sammy and I have a morning appointment for a snack.”

“This might be why your company failed,” Kell said. “You’re on the clock.”

“I started working at six a.m. so I think a ten minute break is acceptable.”

“It might be, but business should always come first.”

“That you think so might be why you’re all alone,” she said quietly. “It’s only for ten minutes and I’m sure even the great and powerful Kell Montrose can wait that long.”

The look he gave her was frosty and hard. But underneath it she could see that she’d hurt him. She had to remember what she’d learned yesterday—beneath his all-business exterior Kell was a real man. She remembered what he’d said about his mother and thought that maybe because he hadn’t had a bond with her, he didn’t realize how important it was.

Before he could say anything though, Sammy came over to them where they stood just inside the doorway by the coatrack.

“Mommy,” he said, launching himself at her.

She scooped him up in her arms and hugged him close. Then she kissed the top of his head and set him back on the ground. He kept his tiny hand in hers.

“Hi,” Sammy said, looking up at Kell.

The two had met before. Since Jessi and Cari were both moms now and engaged to Kell’s cousins, their families had spent time together. And Emma actually liked both Dec and Allan. But they were nothing like Kell. He’d always seemed out of place and uncomfortable around the new babies and around her son.

“Hiya,” Kell said. “What were you doing on the tablet?”

“Playing a game.”

“One of ours?”

“Mommy didn’t make it,” Sammy said. “It’s snack time.”

“I heard,” Kell said. “Can I join you?”

What? She looked over at him and he raised one eyebrow at her in response.

“Yes. Mommy made enough for me to share,” Sammy said.

They followed him to a table where three other children were already seated. The chairs were tiny and as the nursery teacher brought over a chair for Emma, she looked at Kell. There was no way his big frame was going to be able to perch on this tiny chair.

He just sat down cross-legged on the floor at the head of the table. Sammy sat next to him in front of his The Avengers lunchbox and opened it up. He took out a package of raisins and placed a few in front of Kell and then couple in front of Emma.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Thanks,” Kell said. “What game were you playing again?”

“Music,” Sammy said.

“It’s a program that teaches kids to play simple melodies. They can sing along with it and follow a little bouncing grape on the keyboard.”

“What can you play?”

“Can’t take it away,” Sammy said, popping a raisin into his mouth. “It’s Mommy’s favorite.”

“Is it?” Kell asked, glancing over at her.

“Yes. He means ‘They Can’t Take That Away From Me.’ I like old jazz so he is sort of growing up listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Plus it’s a duet and we sing it at night before bedtime, don’t we?”

Sammy nodded. “Uncle Dec plays me rap so that I’m not—what’d he call it?”

“Stodgy,” Emma said.

“Sounds like Dec.”

She could tell that Kell had more questions but Sammy started talking to the little girl, Anna, next to him. They were trying to swap snacks.

Kell turned to Emma. “I have more questions.”

“I know, but he’s three and it’s snack time,” she explained.

“After snack time then. I want to know why he likes his game,” Kell said. “Do the other kids play with tablets as well? I recently read an article about kids in Estonia who are learning to program robots at the age of seven. Your idea for the reading app is right on trend.”

Great. “I bet you’re glad you didn’t just fire me outright.”

“Don’t get cocky. You still have to prove you can make it work.”

Of course she did.

* * *

As far as mistakes went, this was one was colossal. He’d told himself he’d come to the Malibu campus of Playtone-Infinity Games to meet with Emma about her idea. But he knew that was a lie. As soon as he’d entered the building he’d felt a zing of emotion go straight through him.

He’d thought of nothing but how she’d felt in his arms the day before. He hadn’t slept or been able to concentrate on his five-year plan as he’d gone for his run that morning. Instead he’d thought of all the ways he wanted to make love to her.

For a man who’d been focused on revenge and corporate takeovers for most of his adult life, it had been unnerving to say the least. So he’d driven here to talk to her. To prove to himself that he’d remembered it all wrong. That she hadn’t changed him by falling into his arms.

But that wasn’t the way this was going.

Instead he was sitting at the kiddie table listening to the babble of three-year-olds and realizing two things. One, that if this was they were going to launch a reading app for this market, he was going to have to find a lot more patience for dealing with his future focus groups. And two, he was still just as attracted to Emma as he’d been the day before. In fact he might be even more so than he’d previously thought.

Never before had the way a woman nibbled a breakfast snack turned him on. But it had today.

“Is that okay?” she asked.

No, he thought. Then realized she had to be talking about something else. There was no way she could possibly know that she’d rattled him. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked if you’d mind if Sammy and some of his friends played with the prototype and then gave us some feedback.”

“That’s what I was going to suggest,” he said. He glanced around the table and noticed that the kids had finished their snacks and were putting away their lunch boxes. It was just he and Emma sitting there.

He popped his last raisin into his mouth and then pushed up to his feet. He was more than ready to get out of the nursery. He hadn’t been around this many kids since he’d been one himself. The merger and the relationships that had sprung up from it were making his life a mess, Kell thought. There were babies everywhere. Which made him think about things he’d never really considered before. Like the future.

Emma stood up as well, brushing her hands down the sides of her pantsuit and tucking the tail of her blouse back into the waistband where it had come out. Her long hair hung around her shoulders. His palms tingled with the remembered feel of its silkiness and he wanted to touch it again. Touch her again. He didn’t know how he was going to keep his word that he wouldn’t pursue her.

It was all he wanted.

It made no sense. He felt like an idiot. Why was he here? He should be running in the other direction instead of stopping by her office.

“Kell?”

“Yes?”

“You okay?”

No, he wasn’t okay. In fact he to admit, he’d never been okay. He’d always been just a little messed up. And part of that was due to his mom. He saw the way Emma was with Sammy, and couldn’t help thinking that his own mom had never come and had a snack with him at school.

No matter how many times he’d told himself he hadn’t expected her, he’d always sort of hoped she’d show up at something. But she never had.

Sammy was lucky to have Emma. And Kell knew that probably the best gift he could give the kid would be to make sure that Emma’s job didn’t take up too much of her time. He should fire her now, get her out of his life, give the kid his mom full-time and—

Pretty much piss off the only family he had. There were really only two people in the world that he’d always cared about, and they were Allan and Dec. If he fired Emma they’d be furious.

He was stuck.

It didn’t matter that it was common sense to avoid the mess that was this five-foot, five inch, one-hundred-thirty-pound woman with reddish-brown hair and eyes that made him forget she was the granddaughter of his sworn enemy and the only person still alive who’d witnessed his greatest humiliation.

“Yes, I’m fine. Just realized that a focus group with kids is going to be very interesting,” he said, trying to bring his mind back to business.

“I agree. I think we should give it to Jessi’s team and see what they can do with it,” Emma said with a grin.

“Your sister already doesn’t like me, despite Allan’s best efforts to change her mind. I think if I suggested that she should head up focus groups with three-year-olds she’d go ballistic.”

Emma laughed. The sound was full and infectious and he couldn’t help almost smiling. The fact that he never smiled was the only thing that kept him from doing it now.

“We can work out those details in your office,” he said.

He wanted to get away from her son and this environment. He was seeing Emma as a person and not simply an employee in a company he’d taken over. She was no longer looking like collateral damage but like a woman. His woman.

No. She’d never be his and that was the only way it could be. And after today, he wasn’t coming to the Malibu office.

He’d make Dec deal with Emma and her transition from now on. Kell had to keep his distance before he did something he’d totally regret like pull her back into his arms and kiss her yet again.

* * *

Emma took the stairs up to her office, not wanting to risk getting trapped in the elevator with Kell. Not this morning, when she was seeing him in the new light that had started yesterday. It was one thing to say their behavior in the elevator had been a fluke but to see him this morning, sitting on the floor and talking to her son, had made Kell seem like a regular guy. And that had put images in her head that she had no business believing. Images that made it seem as if maybe she could kiss him again and more.

Which was absolutely insane. He was still Kell Montrose. A man who was ruled by the past and determined to eradicate her from the face of gaming.

Was that his play?

Had he kissed her yesterday to set in motion the ultimate revenge? Make her fall for him and then either break her heart or get her to give up the Chandler legacy?

She groaned.

“You okay?” Kell asked as he trudged up the stairs behind her.

“Yes, just thinking about the huge task in front of me.” Which was going to be twice as hard since she was dealing with these new ideas about Kell. It was easier to plan for her future without him in the picture as anything other than her mortal enemy.

Now everything was muddled.

The same way it had been when she met Helio. He’d swept her off her feet in a way that Kell never would or even could. But Helio had shaken up her neat little world and made her realize that all the truths she’d always held were fallible. And that scared her.

Helio’s death had sent her scurrying and hiding in Infinity Games. She couldn’t risk anything like that happening again. She had to remember that.

“It’s going to be a challenge, but I have the feeling you like that,” he said, as they reached the executive floor and stepped out into the carpeted hallway.

“I do,” she admitted. “Plus there’s the fact that you kind of expect me to fail. I’d love to prove you wrong.”

“Would you?”

“Yes. I like winning,” she said. “Your takeover knocked me down but I’m more than ready to get back up and go for it again.”

“Good. It’s no fun going into battle with an opponent you know you can beat.”

“Truly? You thought you could beat me? Didn’t dealing with Jessi show you anything?” she asked as she led the way to her office. She walked around behind her big walnut desk and started to sit down, but Kell had followed her and stood by the plate glass windows that overlooked a view of the Pacific Ocean.

“Jessi was unexpected,” he admitted. “But you’re more civilized.”

“On the surface,” she said. She’d learned early on that she accomplished more when people assumed she was agreeable and malleable; it had served her well in her career up to this point. But underneath she was just as determined and willing to go to any lengths as Jessi was. Jessi had courted a Hollywood producer and gotten them exclusive rights to develop a game based on his upcoming action movie. She just went about it in a different way.

“Stop it,” he said.

“Stop what?”

“Getting more interesting. Could you please go back to being the all-business Emma—the woman I had never kissed and pretty much never thought of except for crushing you in the business arena.”

She looked over at him and tucked this new tidbit away to use later. She wasn’t ruthless...she honestly didn’t believe all’s fair in love and in war, because in those cases someone always got caught in the cross fire. But she did believe in using everything at her disposal to her advantage.

“You think I’m interesting.”

He closed the gap between them in two long strides and put his hands on her waist. His touch was light, but his body language was aggressive, and she had the feeling that she’d just pushed him too far. Another tidbit she should tuck away.

She felt perfectly safe with him like this. She knew that he’d never hurt her—she didn’t know why she was so certain but she was.

“I can’t help being myself,” she said, at last.

“You weren’t like this last week.”

“I was. You didn’t notice,” she said.

He pulled her toward him. “I’m pretty observant. I think I would have been aware that you were flirting with me.”

“You think so?” she asked, tipping her head to the side.

He nodded.

She lifted one finger up to caress the line of his jaw and felt a tiny scar there. Where had he gotten it? One little flaw in an otherwise perfect face.

“What do you want me to say?”

“That you can survive a no-holds-barred sexual affair that has a built-in end date.”

Shaken, she stared up into those pewter eyes of his, eyes that she knew she’d never look into again and think of as icy, because they burned with such a white-hot flame now. The rawness in his voice scared her. What he wanted...well, she wanted it, too, but she was done leaping into affairs. She was done with trusting that the future would sort itself out—it never really did. She swallowed hard.

He cursed under his breath.

“Why flirt then?” he asked.

“I can’t resist it. I know I should hold my tongue but I can’t.”

“I have a few ideas of what to do with your tongue,” he said. “Give me a kiss, Emma. One last kiss just for this moment and then I’ll let you go and you’ll stop flirting with me and that will be it.”

“One kiss? Wasn’t that what started this craziness?” she asked, licking her lips because just the thought of kissing him made everything feminine inside of her go on high alert.


Four (#ulink_ea2eb3f6-97cc-5fd9-8734-3bfdf6ec5257)

Kell’s rational brain was no longer in charge. He had nothing left to lose. He wanted her, he couldn’t think when she was around and kissing her seemed like the most sensible thing in a world that had gone completely insane.

“Was it the kiss that started all this? I thought it was that time we worked together in the copy room more than ten years ago.”

Her breath caught. “I didn’t think you remembered that day.”

“I don’t really dwell on it that often but it’s always in the back in my mind. I think that one incident set all of this into motion.”

She kept running her finger along his jaw and it made it nearly impossible for him to think. But then holding her in his arms wasn’t really helping to keep him focused either. There was something about Emma and there always had been. She was smart, pretty, funny and unattainable. Still. Even though he’d conquered her, taken over her company and put her in a position where he should be holding all the cards, she pulled out this sexiness that he’d never really noticed before.

And once again he was at the disadvantage.

“You were so good-looking back then. And there wasn’t that edge to you that there is now.”

“What edge?”

“Like you always have your guard up. Even now when you are asking me for a kiss...there’s a dominance to you.”

“Dominance suits me,” he said. “Are you going to kiss me?”

“Not if you keep talking about it. We both know this is stupid,” she said.

“I no longer care,” he said. “I have your company, everyone on the board knows your plan to try to save your job. I am not going to make you promises of continued employment if you sleep with me. I’m just going to tell you that we both will sleep better if we do.”

She shook her head and he wondered if he’d miscalculated but he knew he hadn’t. He and Emma were similar. They always had been. They were the oldest of their families. The ones who’d been tasked with continuing the feud that their grandfathers had started. And they both were tired of carrying that mantle. Or at least he hoped she was.

Because he dreamed of kissing her mouth. Of tasting her one more time. He didn’t want to just walk away, and this time he wasn’t going to.

He still regretted letting her out of the elevator at Playtone-Infinity headquarters yesterday. It wasn’t in his nature to deny himself anything he wanted.

He lowered his head. Knowing this might be the last chance, he tried to take his time. He rubbed his lips over hers; she opened her mouth on a gasp and the sweetness of her breath brushed over him. He traced the seam of her lips with his tongue before pulling her closer and plunging his tongue deeper.

Slow, his mind said. Never, his body replied. She was in his arms, and taking his time was the last thing he wanted to do. At war with himself he did the one thing he’d been wanting to do since he’d left her in the stairwell yesterday. He pulled her closer to him, forgot she was a Chandler and he a Montrose. He kissed her like she was just Emma, a girl he knew, unencumbered by their past.

Her fingers slid up his jaw to his neck and she held him lightly as he kissed her. The way she touched him sent chills down his spine and made him long for more than this one kiss could offer.

He’d never lost himself in an embrace like this before. He wanted to pretend that she wasn’t different. That he wasn’t different. But that was another lie.

He felt his erection stir and she shifted to rub her hips against him. He groaned and slipped his hand around to her back and tugged her blouse from the waistband until he could slide his hand under the fabric and touch her skin. He exposed just a few inches at the small of her back but it was more erotic than having some other woman totally naked.

Her skin was softer than he’d thought a woman’s could be. She shivered a little at his touch and curled one hand tighter around his neck as she rose on tiptoe and deepened their kiss. He shook with the intensity of his need for her. He was still being subtle but his gut called for him to go for it.

He pushed one hand under her blouse and let his palm move slowly up between her shoulder blades, urging her closer to his chest. Her hands moved down his shoulders and he drew her closer as he continued to kiss her.

The he lifted her off her feet and turned to set her on her desk. He thrust his thigh between her legs and maneuvered them apart until he could stand between them. He felt the bite of her fingernails in his shoulders and lifted his head.

Her skin was flushed, her eyes half-closed and her lips parted as each breath was a forceful exhalation. Her hand came between them hovering over his chest before falling to touch him just over his racing heart.

“What are we doing?”

He didn’t want to talk or think. Instead he traced the high line of her cheekbone and her long smooth neck with his fingertip before lowering his head to kiss her again.

She hesitated for a second before wrapping her arms around him and drawing him closer. Her tongue tangled with his before plunging deeper and deeper. He had never wanted a woman more.

Nothing seemed to matter but this moment in time and he wanted it to never end. Because he also knew that once it did, it wouldn’t come again.

* * *

Kell’s hands were moving with surety and purpose and she knew that if she was going to call this off she had to do it soon. But he felt good. His kiss tasted just right and in a world where everything had been wrong for so long she wanted to believe in this. But she knew she couldn’t.

She groaned and pulled away from him. Saw that fiery passion in his pewter eyes and called herself a fool. But she’d rather stop herself now than regret this later. Hadn’t she promised herself no more jumping and hoping the bridge would appear? Wasn’t this just the kind of situation she had been trying to avoid?

She leaned forward, resting her forehead on his chest, and heard him curse savagely under his breath. Apologies danced around in her mind but she couldn’t vocalize them just yet.

“I’m freaking out here,” she said into his chest.

He awkwardly patted her on the back but she could tell he was still turned on. His breath was quick and labored and his erection pressed against her thigh. Stopping was at once the hardest thing she’d ever done and the most sensible. This was Kell Montrose.

Something her body didn’t seem to give a care about.

“I shouldn’t have—hell, I still want to. I can’t say I regret a single moment of it,” he said. His voice had an edge that she’d previously only heard in the boardroom when someone pissed him off.

“You said one kiss,” she reminded him.

“I thought you wouldn’t be able to stop,” he admitted ruefully as he stepped away from her. He made no attempt to hide his hard-on as he put his hands on his hips and confronted her.

“Fear is the only thing stopping me, Kell,” she said, feeling small and alone again. “I bet that’s something you don’t let rule you, but for me it’s a constant.”

“I get afraid sometimes,” he admitted. “I can be cautious but I usually just go for it. I have nothing to lose here.”

“And I have everything. It’s not easy for me to call a halt to things but I’m not like I used to be.”

“In what way?” he asked, shoving his hands through that thick hair of his, leaving it disheveled.

Her fingers actually tingled with the need to reach out and smooth his hair. God, she was a mess. She needed distance from Kell instead of more meetings.

“I’m just so aware of the consequences associated with risk now. I’ve become very cautious.”

He nodded and walked around the desk to lean a hip on the front of it. “To your detriment. Your hesitancy left Infinity Games vulnerable to me and my takeover.”

She chewed her lower lip as the truth of what he said sank in. Helio’s death had changed her, taken her to the edge and left her a hollow shell of who she used to be. These last few months when she’d been scrapping with Kell had been good for her but she was still scared.

“That’s the difficulty. I can’t live the way I used to and you’ve shaken things up and made me realize that I have to change. But an affair with you isn’t sensible. It would complicate things.”

“Who said it has to be an affair? I’d be happy with a one-night stand,” he said, wriggling his eyebrows at her and giving her a cocky grin.

“You said that about a kiss and it wasn’t enough,” she said carefully.

“That’s right. I did,” he said, crossing over to one of the guest chairs and sitting down on it. He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees, and stared at the floor for a minute.

She was reminded again of how human he was beneath the corporate robot image that she’d had of him. He wasn’t an automaton. He was a guy trying to figure out life the same way she was. They’d both been screwed by their family legacy, the feud that could be put down to greed on one side and bitterness on the other. There had been no winners, even in their generation. Not unless you counted her sisters and his cousins.

“If I thought there was even half a chance we could be intimate and still work together, I think I’d go for it,” she said, but that was a lie. She knew it as soon as the words left her mouth. Kell made her feel again. And if she’d learned one thing from losing Helio, it was that she didn’t want to be that emotionally dependent on anyone again. Sammy and her sisters were the very limit of whom she could care about. Her sisters’ new babies were already making her feel uncomfortable because she worried about them. Like Hannah’s fever last week that had been so high for so long. Luckily they’d finally gotten it lower after a few hours in the hospital.

She’d been on the edge then. Worrying for her sister Jessi and for little Hannah...it had served to remind her of how fragile life was.

Fragile. Dammit, it was. Should she really give up a chance to be in Kell’s arms because it might not end well when she knew that no one was guaranteed a tomorrow?

There was a knock on the door, then it opened and Jessi walked in. “Sorry. I didn’t know you were in a meeting.”

“Come on in,” Kell said. “We have a task for you.”

Emma bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling as Jessi hesitated to come any further.

“What kind of task?”

“Focus group. That’s right up your alley, isn’t it?”





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